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Chosen- In His Word 8- 11-2025
He chose you. Do you remember when you were a kid waiting in line either in PE or after school games to be picked? You watched as your friends got chosen and you still waited hoping they would see that you either could kick a ball, or catch one. It could be either enlightening or degrading to be the last few to be chosen. When that moment came and you heard your name you felt excited! Now was the time you would prove yourself to be a good asset, or a good choice! Next time they would value you and pick you first! Only that did not always happen, often, at least for me, the kick would not be hard enough or the running to base not fast enough. I would trip up and miss the ball, all to the ‘boo’ of the rest of the team. There were times though when I got stronger that I could kick that ball clear to the other field! The other team went scrambling to try to create a relay toss to get me out! Not all the time, but when that happened, I would feel so powerful!
I have good news for you, as Paul puts it better I will just
give you the spoiler…God picked you for His team! He chose you!
Even in your frailty, even in your disobedient mind set, even in your
anger, He chose you! Read on in Romans 1.
This letter is from Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, chosen by
God to be an apostle and sent out to preach his Good News. God promised this Good News long ago through
his prophets in the holy Scriptures. The
Good News is about his Son. In his earthly life he was born into King David’s
family line, and he was shown to be the Son of God when he was raised from the
dead by the power of the Holy Spirit. He is Jesus Christ our Lord. Through Christ, God has given us the
privilege[and authority as apostles to tell Gentiles everywhere what God has
done for them, so that they will believe and obey him, bringing glory to his
name.
And you are included among those Gentiles who have been
called to belong to Jesus Christ. I am
writing to all of you in Rome who are loved by God and are called to be his own
holy people.
May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace
and peace. Romans 1:1-7
He called us to be His holy people. If anyone really got
this idea of being chosen by Christ, it was Paul. Remember He was first called
Saul and was a persecutor of the Christ followers, and it took Jesus Himself
standing in front of him to change his ability to understand. He was blinded
physically and given Spiritual sight, then He could see that Jesus chose him
for the team!
He became Paul. Paul was a Christian who followed the rules
of the team, but did not know the Coach or Team Captain personally until the
day on the road to Damascus. He will fill us in on this later but today I want
you to think about how no matter how hard your are set against following Jesus He
will continually put things, people and even God himself in your path until you
are ready to accept that He chose you.
So, what does it mean, to be Chosen by God?
Let me say first that I thank my God through Jesus Christ
for all of you, because your faith in him is being talked about all over the
world. God knows how often I pray for
you. Day and night I bring you and your needs in prayer to God, whom I serve
with all my heart[d] by spreading the Good News about his Son. One of the things I always pray for is the
opportunity, God willing, to come at last to see you. For I long to visit you so I can bring you
some spiritual gift that will help you grow strong in the Lord. When we get together, I want to encourage you
in your faith, but I also want to be encouraged by yours.
I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, that I
planned many times to visit you, but I was prevented until now. I want to work
among you and see spiritual fruit, just as I have seen among other Gentiles. For I have a great sense of obligation to
people in both the civilized world and the rest of the world, to the educated
and uneducated alike. So, I am eager to
come to you in Rome, too, to preach the Good News. Romans 1:8-15
Just like Paul we are to pray for one another, those near
and those far away. God wants us to lift one another up. Some people are chosen
to be prayer warriors, as we call them. These people pray through both intercessory
prayer, (praying when someone needs to stand in the gap between God and man) or
praying for requests as they are made known. Sometimes you are called to pray
for someone you never met, but you feel a powerful need to pray for someone.
Sometimes it is someone you know who is
standing in the need of prayer, or in a car accident. You may be praying for
them to be safe, helped or feel His presence, and then later find out the need.
Then there are the requests that are being made known to us by others, the
person themselves or the person who is in need of answered prayers.
Sometimes God tells you to go up to a person and ask if you
can pray for them, sometimes a person comes up to you and you had no idea they
would ask you to pray. When you are standing in line at a grocery store and
waiting to go in, God may send someone to ask for prayer. Be open to it, and open to share the Good News about Christ!
Paul was a rich powerful guy prior to the change from his
old life to new. He could have been timid in the beginning, but I don’t think
he was. This next verse encourages us to not be afraid or embarrassed about
being a Christ Follower but instead to be strong in His power and speak the
truth!
For I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is
the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes—the Jew first and also
the Gentile. This Good News tells us how
God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by
faith. As the Scriptures say “It is through faith that a righteous person has
life.” But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people
who suppress the truth by their wickedness. Romans 1:16-18
God chose us to come out of the sinful lives we were living
in and to let go of the past so that we could be free to serve Him, which means
to follow and do what He tells, or shows us to do.
For Paul He showed him how to share the Gospel truth and open
the spiritual eyes of the spiritual blind. He gave him the chance to use that
boldness he had that was pursuing the Christians and use it to pursue the lost
and strengthen the Christians!
He gives us gifts to use for His glory.
A voice, a hand, feet, all these are blessings God has used
Paul to share His truth, to show us the way to go. He can do the same for you!
Ask God what He chose you to do today!
Take the time to read the whole chapter of Romans 1.
Continue on if you have time! I will be going through this book this next month
or so and its always good to study ahead!
God chose you for His
purpose to do His will, to live your life for His glory. It can be fun! It can
be hard, but when God chooses you for His team it will be the winning team!
In His Love,
Teresa